Defensive Maneuvers
The defense is trying to break down the tackle box as quickly as possible. They will try to send extra rushers to outnumber the blockers. Another tactic would be to send speed rushers off the edge to run around the tackles before they can set the depth of the tackle box. The defensive ends are sometimes able to run past the tackles and get to the quarterback before he can step up into the tackle box to protect himself better. Another maneuver that is used is the middle blitz where the defense sends multiple rushers up the middle of the line in order to get past the center and guards to collapse the tackle box and sack the quarterback. The offensive line cannot block up the middle when too many rushers are running at them. This rushes the quarterback and forces him to get rid of the ball before he is ready to do so. There are many different types of blitzes but their only purpose is to confuse the blockers and ruin the tackle box that is being formed.
Read more about this topic: Passing Pocket
Famous quotes containing the word defensive:
“We find that even the parents who justify spanking to themselves are defensive and embarrassed about it....I suspect that deep in the memory of every parent are the feelings that had attended his own childhood spankings, the feelings of humiliation, of helplessness, of submission through fear. The parent who finds himself spanking his own child cannot dispel the ghosts of his own childhood.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)